G’day,
Android user here, semi-considering finally buying into a smart-watch. My current phone (Huawei P30 Pro) ended up being a grey import and hence doesn’t have the japanese chipset allowing it to use Suica et al. so that is a high-priority item for me in a Smart Watch.
I found this article (https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/rm8dc7/smart_watch_with_linesns_music_and_mobile_suica/) , which is 2 years old now.
Online searches don’t show much; there’s the Google Pixel watch, Garmin has some, and Fitbit has some.
Wondering if anybody knows of any others?
5 comments
Any watch plus Sony wena 3 strap.
Id go with a g shock with a casioak mod plus smart strap. Would be killer.
I have the pixel watch and I’ve been happy with it so far.
I have a Garmin Instinct 2 Dual Power (solar). I actually have an Apple Watch too but stopped using it cos it was a pain to charge it all the time. This one I like because the battery lasts weeks, potentially forever in the summer.
There are a few other Garmin watches with suica support in Japan. The details are here https://www.garmin.co.jp/minisite/garmin-pay-suica/ the big things to note is that you can’t buy 定期券 and you can’t continue using a suica you previously owned; you would register a new one.
My thoughts: android and ios are about 1:1 in Japan (in terms of numbers), but this belies the fact that apple addresses the upper market segment only and android is spread across upper, middle, lower and poor-folks-who-can’t-afford-990yen-per-month-internet-and-survive-on-publis-wifi-only.
So, you’re in minority in this market.
Ask Google employees what they use, maybe?
Google Pixel Watch is alright, it has suica support (no pasmo) but the suica support is limited to normal train fare. It doesn’t support commuter passes.